Pak-In­dia hockey se­ries in UK post­poned due to visa is­sues

IS­LAM­ABAD—A three-match hockey se­ries between former stars of Pak­istan and In­dian hockey teams, that was sched­uled to take place next week, is likely to be de­layed as some former Pak­istan Olympians and in­ter­na­tion­als could not get UK visa in time.

Ac­cord­ing to a for­eign news agency, the three matches were due to be played on May 13, 14 and 15 with the Berk­shire Hockey Club the host.

Pak­istan ju­nior hockey team’s head coach and former Olympian Tahir Za­man, who was part of Pak­istan team for this se­ries, told APP that some Pak­istan play­ers could not get UK visas in time and now the se­ries might take place at some later dates.

“The UK club has planned this se­ries on the eve of lay­ing of a new Astro­turf at its hockey sta­dium. Though we have not been of­fi­cially told by the club about the post­pone­ment of the se­ries it is un­likely to take place in next week due to visa is­sues,” Tahir Za­man said.

He said around 18 Pak­istan erst­while play­ers were sched­uled to gather in the United King­dom for the se­ries which was aimed at pro­mot­ing peace, re­spect and hockey.

Mean­while, In­dian me­dia also re­ported on Sun­day that Hockey In­dia had asked its former play­ers not to ap­ply for visas un­til they get ap­proval let­ters from the hosts and English Hockey As­so­ci­a­tion.

“The rules state that the af­fil­i­ated clubs have to get per­mis­sion from the na­tional body for events in­volv­ing for­eign teams and play­ers,” the In­dian me­dia re­ported while quot­ing a source from Hockey In­dia.—APP